Case 4: Bundle of Emptiness

Te Shan walked back and forth in the meditation hall and said "There's nothing, no one", and then he left. The story continues that he decided he was being coarse, so he came back in to honor the teacher, but when the teacher reached for his whisk, the symbol of his teaching and authority, Te Shan let out a big shout and left. This case is a lot of Zen monkey business, and reading it will make your head spin with archaic references and commentaries that have stories within stories. What's a Zen shout? What's the meaning of there is 'nothing, no one', and why is it a half truth? Before you close the book on Zen koans and toss it into the fire, take a breath and relax into just being yourself, for that's what this koan is about.

Suzuki Roshi said that when you are you, Zen is Zen. That's another way of saying there's nothing, no one, and then shouting. Dogen's way of saying it was that the eyes are horizontal and the nose is vertical. Zen teachers point toward the dynamic dance of the absolute and relative worlds, and they play with stories and sayings that remind us that you can't put Reality in a box. Te Shan's bundle carries the world of emptiness, and he was telling us that from the perspective of the absolute there is no person that exists separately from everything; he was enacting one of the marks of existence, that there is no Self. When he came back into the hall, he reminded us with his shout that he was a unique fellow, and that the world of form and color are also part of the deal, that we live on the earth and are of the earth. Somebody has to shop, cook, and clean.

Koans don't get solved, they get lived. I think the notion of carrying a bundle is a wonderful metaphor for living. What's in our bundle, how do we carry it? Zazen teaches us to stay in the present, close to our breath, and keep our mind in our feet when we are walking. Just by sitting this the bundle has the moon and the earth in it. But if you open the bundle up, everything will disappear, you can't find anything at all. The daily effort we make to let go of our self centered views and behaviors is carrying a bundle of emptiness. The daily effort we make to stand solidly through the day is a big shout, Kwatz! in Japanese, maybe Yeehaaaaaaaa! in Cowboy Zen.

Watching clouds
Pouring tea
Yeehaa!